12 Phrases Florida Boomers Say Without Realizing They're Offensive Now

If you’ve ever said you got gypped, you’ve used a word the dictionary now labels offensive.

Floridians who grew up with certain words use them out of habit, usually with no harm meant, even though modern times have since deemed them hurtful.

Here’s what the dictionary says about each one, and what you can say instead.

1. Oriental

Oriental has a long history of association with colonialism, according to the Merriam-Webster entry.

The noun, meaning a person, is labeled dated and usually offensive.

That person sense is defined as one who is a native of east Asia or is of east Asian descent.

If you’ve said Oriental about a person, you’ve used the labeled sense.

Say Asian instead.

2. Gypsy

Gypsy comes from a shortening and alteration of Egyptian.

The main sense, a member of a traditionally itinerant people who originated in northern India, is labeled usually offensive.

The wanderer sense and the verb are labeled often offensive.

The usage note says the word is increasingly seen as offensive because of negative stereotypes, though some people use it as a self-descriptor.

Use Roma or Romani/Romany instead, unless gypsy is how a group describes itself.

If you’ve called a free spirit a gypsy, you’ve used the wanderer sense.

If you mean a free spirit, you can say free spirit.

3. Gyp

If you’ve said you were gypped, you’ve used gyp.

The dictionary labels gyp informal and offensive, as a noun and as a verb.

The noun means someone who cheats or swindles others.

You can say cheated instead.

Gyp is probably short for gypsy.

4. Indian Giver

If you’ve called a friend an Indian giver, you’ve used a labeled phrase.

The dictionary labels the phrase dated and offensive.

It means a person who gives something to another and then takes it back or expects an equivalent in return.

You can say they took it back.

5. Eskimo

Eskimo has long been considered a word to be avoided in Canada, the usage note says.

If you’ve said Eskimo, you’ve used a word with a history behind it.

The word was imposed on the Indigenous peoples it names by people outside those groups.

In Canada, Indigenous people refer to themselves as Inuit, and not everyone called Eskimo is Inuit.

It’s labeled often offensive.

Even so, the word continues for now in widespread use in many parts of the English-speaking world.

6. Colored

Colored was in common use as a noun well into the 20th century.

By the 1960s, attitudes toward the word had changed.

The noun, meaning a person, is labeled dated and offensive.

In most nonhistorical contexts, the entry says, the word is now considered unacceptable.

If you’ve said colored about a person, you’ve used the labeled noun.

You can read the full note in the entry.

Psst! How many of these have slipped out of your mouth? Tick the boxes below and find out.

7. Crippled

Crippled comes from cripple, and the dictionary labels the noun sense, a lame or partly disabled person or animal, dated and offensive.

The other noun sense, someone who is disabled or deficient in a specified manner, and the adjective are labeled offensive.

The verb meaning to severely damage something carries no label.

You can still say a storm crippled the power grid.

If you’ve said crippled about a person, you’ve used a labeled sense.

8. Moron

Moron comes from the Greek mōros, meaning foolish or stupid.

The sense meaning a person affected with mild intellectual disability is labeled dated and now offensive.

The sense meaning a foolish or stupid person carries no label.

If you’ve called a person with an intellectual disability a moron, you’ve used the labeled sense.

If you meant plain foolishness, you’ve used the unlabeled one.

9. Idiot

If you’ve called a bad driver an idiot, you’ve used the sense the dictionary leaves unlabeled.

That sense means a foolish or stupid person.

The other sense, a person affected with extreme intellectual disability, is labeled dated and now offensive.

If you’ve used idiot that second way, you can leave it out.

10. Lunatic

Lunatic is labeled dated and now offensive when it describes a person with a severely disordered state of mind.

The informal sense, a person who behaves in a wildly foolish, reckless or uncontrolled manner, carries only an informal label.

If you’ve called a reckless driver a lunatic, you’ve used the informal sense.

If you’ve used it for someone’s state of mind, you’ve used the labeled one.

11. Senile

Joke about going senile, and you’ve used the labeled sense.

Senile is labeled sometimes disparaging and offensive when it describes a decline of cognitive abilities with old age.

The usage note says that use is now typically avoided in medical contexts and may be considered offensive in general contexts.

You can say you forgot instead.

12. Spaz

Spaz is slang and often offensive.

It defines the word as an inept person.

If you’ve said spaz, you’ve used the labeled word.

You can say klutz instead.

Florida’s 65-and-Older Residents

Census QuickFacts lists 22.8% of Florida residents as 65 and older.

Psst! How much do you know about word origins and labels? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.

Quiz

Word Labels Quiz

Answer these questions on the words in this article. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?

Question 1 of 4

The dictionary says the word gyp is probably short for which other word?

Where Idiot, Imbecile and Moron Started

If you've wondered where idiot, imbecile and moron started, the dictionary's usage note says the three were formerly used as technical descriptors in medical, educational and regulatory contexts.

Using the terms for extreme intellectual disability was broadly rejected by the close of the 20th century and is now considered offensive.

The legal entry for idiot adds that the terms survive in many state codes and statutes but are generally no longer used in medical and legal contexts.